Sports, Money and Lifestyle: Bajaj KTM 390 Duke

Enough with the baby steps already. Its time for the big boys to come out and play. And leading the charge is the KTM 390 Duke as it prepares to hit our roads next month! brings you an exhaustive first ride report of the tangerine tornado.

    The 390 Duke is aimed at plugging the gap between the 200cc and the 600cc segments bringing with it strong performance in a lightweight framework offering form and function for the street. Changes on the 390 are more for purpose than poise. For instance, the bigger Duke now gets barend weights on the flat wide handlebars and they do a fairly good job of keeping vibrations from throbbing the rider’s palms. The view from the saddle is unchanged and the infofilled geek-friendly digital console upfront remains identical barring one small yet significant addition – the ABS toggle switch. Located on the lower left side of the digital console, the switch to turn off the Bosch developed ABS is slyly hidden and cannot be spotted visually but only felt on a press of the finger.
    For the stunt crazy lads out there who prefer one wheeling over two, the trick to turn off the ABS is to slot the motorcycle into the neutral gear while the engine is running and to keep the button pressed until the ABS light on the display starts to blink. ABS Activated!!! And to turn it back on (not that I would want to on such a mental machine), simply switch off the engine and crank it up again to get the ABS working again as the ABS indicator light stabilises.
    Thumb the starter and one can instantly figure that the engine note is raspier and the exhaust is significantly louder over the 200 Duke. Gruntier hum at idle, the loudness and crispy ‘brraaaaaap’ of the larger 390 Duke comes to light as the revs build up. The 375cc single cylinder motor, (the name 390 has been coined to maintain the Duke family naming – 690, 990 and the soon to be launched 1290 SuperDuke) gets a new cylinder while the engine crankcase and the cylinder head are retained from the mill that powers the 200 Duke.
    The KTM/Bajaj Auto development team hiked the capacity of the 200cc engine to 375cc by upping the bore and stroke from 72 x 49mm to 89 x 60mm. The dual overhead camshafts operate the four valves via DLC coated aluminium finger followers. The 375cc engine gets a lightweight forged piston and Nikasil coated cylinder for improved engine response and longer life. All the techno-wizardry within the 375cc liquid-cooled fuel injected motor transforms in to a whooping power output of 45PS at 9,500rpm and 35Nm of torque at 7,250rpm. And to keep the temperatures from soaring, especially in warm countries, the 390 Duke gets a bigger radiator as well. Mated to an all-new six-speed transmission, the gear ratios on the 390 Duke are well spaced to make good use of the available torque throughout the midrange. Thanks to the capacity hike and solid torque output, 390 Duke offers a wide powerband that will appeal to fast riders as well as the lazy street bunch all the same.
    A significant change which will appeal to most Indian biker junta is the tall sixth gear ratio, which hands the 390 Duke with some solid touring capabilities for our roads. While the 200 Duke felt stretched and out of breath at 138km/h, the 390 Duke can reach a top whack upwards of 170km/h while effortlessly sustaining triple digits cruising speeds slotted in sixth gear and nowhere near the redline – and all this without compromising on the initial acceleration with the 390 Duke still managing an estimated 0-100km/h time in the region of five seconds.
    All of this would not be so good unless the tyres can keep up with the demands of the 390 Duke’s raw power and supple chassis. And hence the Bajaj/KTM pairing has decided to stick to Metzeler tyres. Unlike the 200 which runs on MRF rubber, the cast alloy 17-inch wheels on the 390 Duke will come to India shod with Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact tyres.
    To sum it up, the 390 Duke indeed packs in a lot more firepower over its younger sibling although without adding more mass and not requiring any extra efforts when on the saddle. The 390 Duke is loud and radical not just too look at but also to ride but not over the top thus making it a proposition that can be all things to all riders be it sport riding, touring or freestyle stunt riding. And knowing how Bajaj Auto/KTM partnership has worked out before in case of the 200 Duke, the 390 too will be well within the reach of the cash-strapped Indian enthusiast.
    Although both the companies are tight-lipped on the pricing, from what we know and understand, expect the KTM 390 Duke to be priced around Rs. 2 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). But what we know for certain is that the motorcycle will be launched in India in the month of June and the deliveries will commence immediately once launched. One more thing we are sure about is that if you are not the one who is too keen on owning a full-faired race-spec machine, the KTM 390 Duke is a sure shot pocket rocket which can give all the jollies of a fast bike without emptying your bank balance or compromising on the dayto-day practicality which is so vital on our Indian roads. SPE C IF IC AT ION S KTM 390 DUKE ENGINE: 375cc, liquid cooled,DOHC
POWER: 45PS @ 9,500rpm
TORQUE: 35Nm @ 7,250rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed
GROUND CLEARANCE: 170mm
SADDLE HEIGHT: 800mm
FUEL TANK CAPACITY: 11 litre
WHEELBASE: 1,367mm
WEIGHT: 132kg (dry)